"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis

29.7.04

LINK: Crooked Timber invites us to discuss the implications of the following from Trotsky:

"Foreign policy is everywhere and always a continuation of domestic policy, for it is conducted by the same ruling class and pursues the same historic goals."

Well, it seems like (from context) Trotsky's talking about how a set of domestic policies which were mostly about trying to consolidate power over internal opposition required the Stalinists to abandon a principled foreign policy in favor of a point-by-point manipulation of friendly elements overseas in order to further consolidate their power internally.